Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation.

Chapter 257 Ancient Tombs
The fact that Shibaling Village was able to develop from its initial state as a desolate spiritual vein temple to its current state owes a great deal to luck.

Initially, the Biyun Sect was in a critical period of closure and had no time to pay attention to it. In addition, the chaotic situation of the eighteen forces in the region meant that no one thought it could gain any momentum.

Subsequently, due to the turmoil in the early stages of the war between good and evil, this place experienced rampant growth.

Ultimately, during the Great War between the Righteous and the Demonic, the Elders of Lingzhai actively responded to the orders of the Wanfa Palace, sending the most Foundation Establishment cultivators to participate in the war, which won the Wanfa Palace's commendation and thus completely solidified its position.

Moreover, considering the situation within the Tiancang Domain, the Wanfa Palace, as the nominal ruler of the domain, must have the intention to check and balance the seven major sects within the domain, which are similar to feudal lords.

For many years, due to the natural barrier of the Daze Mountains, Cangyun Prefecture has been the only prefecture. Now that the Eighteen Spirit Villages are here, it is naturally advantageous for the Wanfa Palace to supervise the entire region.

Therefore, the other sects are also well aware of this and will not openly use their sect status to cause trouble for Lingzhai.

However, there are certainly many forces eyeing this lucrative opportunity.

This was clearly not the first time Wu Weixiong had encountered such a deliberate attempt to cause trouble.

"Hehe, fellow Daoist, you jest. I am but a watchdog. Who would be afraid of me?" Wu Weixiong laughed self-deprecatingly.

Having spent half his life wandering and experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions, Wu Weixiong had long since developed the ability to be a tough, unyielding man.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten to where he is today.

Within this small territory of Lingzhai, they have the Holy Palace's decree, so they are not afraid of any sect's True Person taking action. They are completely fearless against a True Person, but once they leave this place, there is no guarantee that a True Person might secretly take action.

"Hmph, you really have a thick skin!" the other party sneered, continuing to mock.

Wu Weixiong chuckled and patted his face, nodding with a hint of pride: "I cultivate earth-based techniques, so naturally I can't be thin-skinned."

"Enough with the nonsense. Since you don't dare go out with me, what else do you want to do?" The other party sneered, seeing that his provocation was unlikely to work.

Upon hearing this, Wu Weixiong burst into laughter, then raised one hand and held up three fingers: "Hahaha, I, Wu, only do three things in this market: fairness, fairness, and damn it, fairness."

"As long as Fellow Daoist Jiao can conduct a fair transaction with this merchant, I, Wu, will welcome you with open arms, regardless of whether you are a spy sent by Spirit Beast Mountain."

When the Elders' Council of Lingzhai determined the positioning of the market, it was clear that if Lingzhai Market wanted to grow and thrive, it had to differentiate itself from the major immortal cities.

Safety cannot be guaranteed, but that's alright.

It doesn't matter if the quality of the spiritual vein cannot be guaranteed.

All that is needed is to ensure fairness that none of them can guarantee.

Moreover, their fairness applies to all cultivators, even those who set up stalls or mortals who unexpectedly acquire treasures.

In the Great Immortal City, shops dominate the market, and in many places, setting up stalls is even prohibited. If low-level cultivators want to sell their goods, they can only do so through shops.

Moreover, many shops are owned by the same person who colludes to drive down prices, leaving independent repairmen without fair treatment.

Jiao Xiuming's eyes froze for a moment, a hint of panic flashing across his face, as he subconsciously looked himself over.

He hadn't expected that Wu Weixiong already knew his identity beforehand.

He was indeed a spy sent by Spirit Beast Mountain, intending to lure Wu Weixiong out of the market.

"Hmph, nonsense. I simply won't buy it." Feeling guilty, Jiao Xiuming threw the second-tier black-patterned gold piece he had already selected back onto the stall and then turned to leave.

"This isn't over yet, you can't leave!" Wu Weixiong ordered his men to stop him again.

"Hmm? What else do you want to do?"

"He should at least admit his guilt!" Wu Weixiong said with a playful smile.

"You want Jiao to apologize to a mere Qi Refining cultivator like him?" Jiao Xiuming sneered.

Wu Weixiong slowly walked to the stall and gently patted the stall owner's shoulder: "You tried to force this young friend to buy the spirit gold that he risked his life for, and you even used your power to intimidate him. Didn't you see that you scared this young friend so much that his Dao heart is already unstable?"

As he spoke, Wu Weixiong shouted again to the surrounding crowd, "Shouldn't we apologize for this?"

"I apologize!"

"I apologize!"

"I apologize!"

……

The next moment, a crowd gathered.

"Don't push your luck!" The crowd around him was indignant, and Jiao Xiuming's face immediately darkened.

Wu Weixiong ignored him and continued to shout, "Gentlemen, tell me, am I going too far?"

"You!" Jiao Xiuming's eyes were practically spitting blood.

Seeing the increasingly intense atmosphere around him, Jiao Xiuming's eyes showed fear.

It's true that he's at the late Foundation Establishment stage, but even facing Wu Weixiong, a Foundation Establishment bandit who cultivates both body and magic and has a near-third-tier spirit pet, he has almost no confidence in escaping unscathed, let alone being surrounded by so many people.

At that time, these rogue cultivators on the periphery will secretly launch sneak attacks, and he won't be able to withstand one hit from each of them.

The main problem is that he is in the wrong right now.

"Hmph!" Jiao Xiuming glared at Wu Weixiong, then gave the Qi Refining cultivator stall owner a perfunctory bow: "I was in a hurry, young friend, please don't take offense!"

The late-stage Foundation Establishment major repair apologizes to the minor Qi Refining repair!
This is simply a fantasy.

However, this is actually happening right before everyone's eyes.

This drew cheers from the crowd in the market.

"Warrior Wu is mighty!"

"Warrior Wu is mighty!"

……

As soon as one person spoke, the crowd cheered in praise.

Jiao Xiuming then slunk away.

"Not bad!" Li Ji'an, who had witnessed all of this, smiled slightly and thought highly of Wu Weixiong.

At the same time, I temporarily suppressed a thought in my mind.

After Wu Weixiong left, the streets returned to normal.

Under Zhu Qi's guidance, Li Ji'an followed the path to the end.

He collected all the materials for the second-tier and higher puppets he saw.

However, true Tier 3 spiritual materials are still very rare, and most of them have lost a lot of spiritual essence, greatly reducing their value.

"For third-tier spiritual materials, it still depends on the sect!" When it comes to excavating ancient relics, how can independent cultivators compare to the excavation efforts of the sect? Moreover, the superior spiritual fields in the region are basically controlled by the sect, and only the sect can cultivate high-tier spiritual materials.

"Senior, if you are still not satisfied with this place, we can go to another place." Seeing Li Ji'an's disappointment, Zhu Qi hurriedly offered another suggestion.

"There's more?" Li Ji'an was quite surprised. Although he hadn't found a single herb for the Crystal Condensation Pill on this trip, and only had a palm-sized golden paulownia leaf as a third-tier talisman material, he had traded quite a few second-tier puppet materials. He was already satisfied, since he hadn't had high hopes for this kind of market with second-tier spiritual veins.

"Yes, yes, uh, not really, there's just a chance to get third-tier spiritual materials, but it depends on luck and your eye for talent." Zhu Qi readily agreed, then quickly changed his mind. "Tell me more." Li Ji'an locked onto him with his divine sense, sensing his mental state.

"Senior, there's a blind shop in the northeast corner. They might have some third-tier spiritual materials there, and a magic weapon once came from there!" Zhu Qi tiptoed up to Li Ji'an's ear, lowered his voice, and dropped a bombshell.

"A magic weapon!" Li Ji'an raised an eyebrow slightly.

Even the lowest grade nine magic treasure is a treasure that only a True Core cultivator can control, and no one in the Tiancang Domain would sell it. It's surprising that a magic treasure has appeared here.

Moreover, Zhu Qi's mental perception was not abnormal.

"Did you hear about it or see it with your own eyes?" Li Ji'an asked further.

"This... I've only heard about it, but I can basically confirm its authenticity," Zhu Qi said firmly.

Tell me more about this blind building!

"Yes, senior, this Blind Building was originally a shop rented by several groups of independent cultivators. It was originally a base for distributing the treasures they unearthed."

However, they have been excavating ancient tombs and ruins near the Blackwater Swamp for many years. After being eroded by the Blackwater, many ancient tombs and caves have also been corroded, and many treasures inside have been covered by the Blackwater Swamp mud.

The black swamp mud not only carries the corrosive properties of black water, but also possesses the divine sense-shielding effect of black mist. Only by breaking through the mud can one know what the treasure within is, whether it has lost all its spirituality, and whether it still has any value.
Because most of the treasures that were broken open had almost lost their spiritual essence and were worthless, with less than 20% being valuable, the expedition team fell apart within a few years, and the shop was also preparing to terminate the lease.

Finally, some unopened mud seals remained in the shop. Because the mud seals contained black water poisonous mist, the limit was three seals to be opened each day. By the time of the clearance sale, he had not completely opened them all. So he simply sold them in their unopened state, agreeing beforehand that it was all up to luck and that no one would come to him if they found out they were worthless.

This model was originally ignored, but a cultivator wanted to take a gamble and ended up opening a second-tier pill sealed in a jade bottle with its medicinal effects fully preserved for ten spirit stones. On the spot, a fellow cultivator traded it for two thousand spirit stones.

"Then this blind box sales took off like wildfire..." Zhu Qi explained vividly.

Every time he comes to Lingzhai Market, he always opens blind boxes, and he has already opened one today.

After listening attentively, Li Jijing pondered for a moment and then said, "Could these blind boxes be counterfeited?"

"Reporting to Senior, the black swamp mud is corrosive. If it envelops something without spirit, it will instantly corrode and dissolve it, and will not form a blind box mud lump," Zhu Qi explained.

"Oh."

As they spoke, Zhu Qi had already led Li Ji'an to the Blind Building with practiced ease.

The rough, two-story building had a strong earthy smell, and there was also a visible black, toxic fumes swirling around the entire building.

To prevent the leakage of toxic gas from opening blind boxes, the market required them to set up a special magic array to isolate and remove the toxic gas. However, there were too many people opening blind boxes, and too much toxic gas was released, so the removal magic array could not remove it in time.

Therefore, people who come here to open blind boxes generally don't stay in the building for long.

"Senior Zhu, didn't you already open it today? Did you take a detoxification pill?" As soon as he entered the building, a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator wearing a poison-proof magic weapon stepped forward to greet him.

Zhu Qi immediately suppressed his smile: "I, Zhu, have brought you here to experience it."

"Good, good, welcome, welcome! I wish you two great fortune and that you will find some rare treasures! Please." The servant immediately led the two to the blind boxes covered in black mud.

"Senior, the black mist in the Blackwater Swamp is said to carry strange things overflowing from the Phantom Forest, which even the Nascent Soul True Monarchs of the Holy Palace cannot see through." Zhu Qi hurriedly transmitted his voice as soon as Li Ji'an released his divine sense to investigate.

Li Ji'an remained silent, but had already withdrawn his divine sense.

As Zhu Qi said, the effect of these mud blind boxes in isolating divine consciousness is quite strange.

"I must bring Xiao Qiao next time!"

After secretly making a plan, Li Ji'an picked five blind boxes by chance.

This is also the upper limit of the toxic fog that a fake Dan Zhen can withstand at one time, as Zhu Qi said.

Because the market regulations require the black swamp mud to be disposed of properly after the boxes are opened, customers are generally not allowed to take the blind boxes away. However, for the sake of privacy, the shopkeeper has set up five separate cubicles on the second floor for customers to open the blind boxes.

Li Ji'an didn't have high expectations for his first attempt, and since he had to wait in the upstairs cubicle, he simply broke it open on the spot.

The five blind boxes, priced differently according to size, cost a total of two hundred spirit stones. Only one of them yielded a first-tier spirit herb, worth ten spirit stones, resulting in a net loss of one hundred and ninety spirit stones.

This result did not elicit ridicule from the onlookers, because Li Ji'an was able to open five blind boxes at once without showing any signs of poisoning, indicating that he was at least a fake Dan Zhenren.

"Senior, this is how blind boxes are..." Zhu Qi hurriedly apologized via telepathy.

Meanwhile, some onlookers offered words of comfort, attempting to forge a good relationship with this senior.

Li Ji'an smiled and waved his hand, not caring much.

“If any of you find any third-tier spiritual materials, you may trade with me,” Li Ji’an said to the crowd.

"Senior wants third-tier spiritual materials?" As soon as the words were spoken, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator hurriedly came over.

"Do you have any, young friend?" Li Ji'an asked casually.

"Please, senior, take a step forward." The man invited Li Ji'an out of the blind building.

"Senior, I know a place with a relatively high probability of yielding third-tier spiritual materials." After leaving the Blind Tower, the man probed through telepathy.

"Speak freely, and I won't shortchange you on spirit stones."

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just that this place is an underground tomb. Based on my many years of experience, it must be an ancient tomb, and it must contain third-tier spiritual materials, but…”

Upon hearing this, Li Ji'an's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that someone in the Tiancang Domain wanted to harm Yin Zhenren? He subconsciously became wary.

"To be honest, the tomb was discovered by our junior team, but we were unable to break it open due to our lack of strength, so we came here to recruit help."

"Then I wish you success soon, young friend. If you obtain any third-tier spiritual materials, please feel free to contact me at any time," Li Ji'an said first.

"Hmm? Senior, aren't you tempted?" The man asked, quite surprised.

After discovering the ancient underground tomb, they tried for months but could not break it open. They had no choice but to seek help, fearing that others would discover it, and even more so that the powerful sects would find out.

However, seeking help can be very risky.

It's useless to look for those with low cultivation levels.

Those with high cultivation levels are most afraid of losing both their wealth and their loved ones.

To this end, they spent a large sum of money in advance to purchase a Tier 3 Blood Pact.

And they were also worried about running into the sect elders.

After observing Li Ji'an for a long time, especially after his open and aboveboard pursuit of third-tier spiritual materials, he finally decided to try and win him over.

Unexpectedly, Li Ji'an remained unmoved by such temptation and still wanted to buy it.

This filled him with immense joy, proving at least that this person was not a spy from the sect, otherwise they would have definitely tried to find out where the ancient tomb was. It also proved that this person was quite wealthy and had a relatively high moral standard.

"Please rest assured, senior. This junior is absolutely sincere in inviting you to join us in seeking this opportunity. Besides the five of us brothers, we have already signed blood contracts with the martial protector of the market and an ancestor of a pseudo-Dan family in Cangyun Prefecture. Moreover, our blood contracts are third-tier blood contracts, so you can be completely at ease. Now, as long as you can join us, once we find a few more second-tier barrier-breaking talismans, we will definitely be able to unlock that opportunity!"

“Wu Weixiong…the fake alchemy ancestor of Cangyun Prefecture…Qin Henian?” Li Ji’an raised an eyebrow, a guess forming in his mind.

"I am Gao Yang, a rogue cultivator who has long made a living by excavating ancient tombs and caves. I am completely innocent. Senior, you are free to investigate me. You may also come with me to Lingzhai Prefecture." Seeing that Li Ji'an was still hesitating, Gao Yang became even more eager to bring Li Ji'an into the group.

"Could you tell me how far that tomb is from here? Or roughly where it is?" Li Ji'an pondered for a moment before tentatively asking.

“Senior, there’s no need to worry. Fellow Daoists know that I, Gao Yang, have been wandering in the Blackwater Swamp for many years. For us rogue cultivators, that’s where the most opportunities are found,” Gao Yang said without any hesitation.

(End of this chapter)